Consumers may access content in an ever increasingly variety of ways. By using host devices, such as set-top boxes, consumers may access content which is broadcast by cable providers, satellite providers and network providers. The range of content which is available to the consumer is also increasing, as consumers have access to traditional television programming as well as video-on-demand, pay-per-view, applications, and the like. Due to this increased range of content and variety of ways in which it may be accessed, host devices have been configured to provide increased functionality by adding additional resources to access and interact with the content. For instance, host devices may be configured with faster processors, increased memory and additional data storage devices, such as hard disk drives. By adding additional resources to the host device, however, the cost to manufacture and supply the host device to consumers has also increased.
Due to the increased cost, the host device may be configured to be operable with different content providers to provide greater functionality. To accomplish this, the host device is configured so that navigation functions and hardware to transport and convert broadcast content are included in the host device. A separate memory card is used to provide access and security functionality to the host device so that the host device may output data received from the specific content provider. Each content provider may supply a memory card to a consumer so that the consumer may receive content using the host device from the content provider that supplied the memory card. In this way, the host device is portable and may be used with different content providers, such as when the consumer moves, changes content providers, and so on. This portability, however, may be limited by the traditional way in which images that identify the content provider were supplied.
Traditionally, images in a host device that identify a content provider are hard-coded into the host device. For example, a set-top box may include a “splash” screen which displays a specific content provider's logo. The splash screen is coded as part of the middleware of the set-top box, and therefore is included as an integral part of the set-top box itself. A set-top box having such images is therefore limited to the content provider for which it is coded, and is not suitable to be used in conjunction with other content providers. If portability of the host device was desired, i.e. suitable for use with different content providers, the host device was unable to provide images specific to the content provider. Portability of the host device may include suitability of the host device to operate with a new content provider when the consumer moves to a new location, and also suitability of the host device to operate with different content providers that are available at the same location.
Therefore, there is a continuing need to provide images that identify a content provider yet retain the portability of the host device.